More exciting development are coming to Bacolod City as the country's largest developer of integrated urban townships Megaworld is building P500 million luxury boutique hotel inside the 34-hectare Upper East township, Megaworld news announced.

The hotel ballroom, which will be connected to an expansive tropical garden, will become the city’s biggest hotel ballroom facility that can fit around 1,000 guests in a banquet setting. It can also be divided into three separate ballrooms for smaller event requirements.

The hotel’s main lobby will be a retrofitted heritage house that used to be the old ‘guest house’ inside the Bacolod-Murcia Milling Company compound. Beside it will be another wing that used to house the guest rooms for visitors, which will be converted into a ballroom facility.

To be designed by renowned heritage architect and conservationist Dominic Galicia, the hotel will have the old structures undergo ‘adaptive reuse’ to form part of its complex.

Galicia was the architect of the redesigned building of the National Museum of Natural History in Manila, which opened late last year.

“The entire hotel complex is anchored in the oldest structure, and it expands from this like wings, with the Ballroom Wing to the left, and the Guest Room Wing to the right. As a landmark of Bacolod, it will express the noble intent of remembering and anchoring in a glorious past as we move towards what we dream to be a glorious future,” explains Architect Dominic Galicia.

"This luxury boutique hotel will be another landmark in The Upper East. The hotel will be a perfect venue for conventions, weddings and memorable celebrations as it integrates an outdoor garden setting into its ballroom facility. Megaworld is keen on helping boost the MICE tourism industry of Bacolod," says Rachelle Peñaflorida, vice president for sales and marketing, Megaworld Bacolod.

The hotel is expected to be completed in 2022.

As the township gears up for the construction of its first hotel development, Megaworld also announces that it is upgrading its first residential condominium development, One Regis, by adding more amenities, residential floors and parking facilities.

One Regis will now feature two penthouse floors – the lower and upper penthouses, a bi-level amenity deck with residential units, executive residential floors, and additional basement parking facility. From a nine-storey residential tower, One Regis will become a 12-storey residential condominium.

“As we saw an overwhelming reception to our first condominium development in The Upper East, we believe that this project deserves an upgrade with more amenities, more facilities and more unit options that perfectly fit the Bacolod lifestyle,” explains Peñaflorida.

Aside from the original amenities that include a swimming pool and kiddie pool, pool lounge and seating areas, fitness center, events hall, male and female shower rooms and a walk park, One Regis will also feature its own Wellness Lounge, and its own Game and Entertainment Room, for the exclusive use of its future residents.

One Regis is scheduled for completion in 2022 with total projected sales of P1.2-billion.

Megaworld is spending P28-billion to develop The Upper East in the next 10 years. This is part of the P35-billion investment that the company announced in 2015 for both Northill Gateway and The Upper East.